ALEX RODRIGUEZ & HIS FINAL ACT

I once wrote that the best thing for Alex Rodriguez should do is to walk away from the Yankees, this great game and retire, lock himself up somewhere and just close out the world. I wrote it in October when I wrote THE ALEX RODRIGUEZ PILE ON IS NOW RELENTLESS. I said: "If I'm Alex Rodriguez, I retire from baseball at the end of 2012, I take my daughters and just hang out on my compound in Florida. It will be quiet, calm and I would shut everyone out....the pounding that Alex is unfairly getting regularly by the press, ALL press. The past 48 hours, it's come to a head. It is so overwhelming, so relentless that, I have to say, it's just not fair for anyone to be bashed as bad as this man has been."

I felt bad for the guy then.  It was he and several others that just stunk up the playoffs for the Yankees. Yet, the world jumped down Alex’s throat, and he wasn't even playing! Yes, he contributed to the loss, which is why he was benched in the first place, but at the time, I felt alittle bad for him. No one needs that kind of abuse, from the fans, the press, etc.  It’s a lot of pressure and could drive anyone batty. Sure, he’s a millionaire, he’s expected to deliver, I get all that, but my point was, enough was enough and the best thing he could have done then was just walk away from the game.  For him, it couldn’t be fun anymore.

Fast Forward to this New Times story (HERE) that links ARod and some others to a PEDs facility in Miami.  Well, if proven true, and I stress truth here, Alex needs to walk away.  Ken Rosenthal wrote an interesting piece yesterday titled, Will Injury be end for ARod?, in it he says… "A-Rod might be voided by his own body.

Specifically, a doctor might determine that Rodriguez is suffering from a career-ending injury. In that event, A-Rod still would collect the $114 million remaining on his contract, even though he would never play again.

The scenario would not be the same as retirement — if Rodriguez retired, he would forfeit all of his money.

The Yankees, though, would be almost entirely free of their obligation — they would collect from insurance up to 85 percent of the money that Rodriguez is guaranteed, but only after he missed a full season, according to major-league sources."

And sure, the other side of this is everyone is talking about the Yankees and the voiding of ARod’s contract and we'll have a story on it on BYB tonight.  Sure, it sounds like a piece of cake, but it ain’t happening.  There are way too many variables that go into that and it’s almost easier to just not do it.  The Yankees were the ones who made a huge mistake signing Alex Rodriguez to that big of a contract in the first place.  Sure, you can yell at ARod for demanding that kind of dough, but that’s what you do in sports, you aim high and see what you get.  The Yankees were blinded by the idea of getting the All-Time Home Run record back to the Yankees and didn’t know any of this was going to happen, none of us did.  It did and now the Yankee have egg on their face.

But back to Alex.  It is my opinion that time is up.  At this point, I guess we can chalk this report up as an accusation.  MLB will investigate and we will wait patiently. But say the investigation proves that Alex IS innocent.  Do you think it really matters in the eye of the public? It doesn’t matter, Alex is toast no matter what, and you know what? That sucks.  It’s sad, but true and what was once the greatest baseball player in this generation will be forced out of the game with too many skeletons in his closet, true or untrue, it doesn’t matter and like I said, he should just hang it up and move to a compound somewhere counting his money. Sad.

Why do I think that way? Because of 1 thing my 10 year old asked me two days ago when all this stuff broke… “Why do baseball players take drugs if they are already talented?” That stayed with me. Good question. I didn’t have an answer… I still don’t, do you? 

 Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.